North Korea [What Think Tanks are thinking]
Written by Marcin Grajewski, © Onur / Fotolia North Korea has stepped up its nuclear plans with the underground detonation of a hydrogen bomb and tests of its first suspected Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), moves perceived as a major threat to global security. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly on 19 September, U.S....
Lopaskino is a conditionally Ukrainian settlement along the delimitation line
During the pre-conflict period the village of Lopaskino belonged to Slavyanoserbsky district and was a part of Slavyanoserbsky settlement council. On October 7, 2014 the Verkhovna Rada has changed the administrative-territorial device of the Luhansk region by the resolution No. 1692-VII, having established new borders of Novoaydarsky and...
The Revised European Neighbourhood Policy: Continuity and Change in EU Foreign Policy, Dimitris Bouris and Tobias Schumacher (eds.) (College of Europe, Natolin)
Dimitris Bouris and Tobias Schumacher (eds.), The Revised European Neighbourhood Policy. Continuity and Change in EU Foreign Policy, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 306p, 2017 This book analyses the revised European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) which entered into force in May 2011, thereby replacing its predecessor of 2003/2004. The edited volume...
Russia sentences Ukrainian journalist Mykola Semena for expressing the UN’s stand on Crimea
A court in Russian-occupied Crimea has passed a two and a half year suspended sentence on Ukrainian journalist Mykola Semena for expressing his opposition to Russia’s occupation of Crimea. It was thus found that an opinion piece written by Semena contained ‘public calls to action aimed at violating Russia’s territorial...
Prisoners of war captured defending Ukraine abandoned & in danger of fake ’trials’
There is an urgent need for Ukraine to formally recognize the soldiers who were taken prisoner by Russian or Russian-backed fighters as prisoners of war, yet Ukraine’s parliament is procrastinating on this, and on other measures to coordinate efforts to bring the men back home …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
Kleptocracy Daily: September 21, 2017
Manafort: Trump’s former campaign manager reportedly offered “private briefings” to oligarch Oleg Deripaska during the campaign. Despite being under investigation,Manafort is still lobbying for foreign interests. (WaPo, NYT) Enablers: “Spray luminol across London’s major PR houses, and you’ll see similar blood spatters,”...
The Importance of the Zapad 2017 Exercises
The Zapad 2017 Russian military exercises were just one element of an extensive plan to checking its armed forces’ combat readiness. At the same time, the exercises were used to test the experience gained by the Russian army in combat operations in Ukraine and Syria, and to practise full-scale conventional conflict. The manoeuvres proved...
Russia’s Foreign Policy of Disruption
By Jacob L. Shapiro The Trump administration came to office hoping it would be able to find a more cooperative basis upon which to work with Russia than previous U.S. administrations had. Of course, the Bush administration and the Obama administration tried to reset U.S.-Russia relations as well, to no avail. Less than a year into Donald...
Dramatic Acquittals in Trial over Odesa 2 May 2014 Riots
There were violent scenes in Odesa on Monday evening following the sensational acquittal of 20 pro-Russian activists who had been charged over the fatal disturbances in Odesa on May 2, 2014. The outrage from some quarters, and the prosecutor’s stated intention to appeal the ruling cannot hide the brutal truth that a guilty verdict, given...
Court in occupied Crimea demands 3-year suspended sentence for journalist over criticism of Russia’s annexation
The prosecution in Russian-occupied Crimea has demanded a three-year suspended sentence for Mykola Semena, the 67-year-old journalist on trial for expressing his opinion – and the position of international treaties which Russia remains a party to. De facto prosecutor Svetlana Petrovna Budinskaya also proposed to ban Semena from engaging in...
